Darrell Hazell's pay for the 2013 season at Purdue is more than $1 million greater than what his predecessor, Danny Hope, was guaranteed in the 2012 season. / Crystal LoGiudice, USA TODAY Sports

by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

New head football coaches at major-college programs will be paid an average of about 7% more next season than what their predecessors made in 2012, a USA TODAY Sports survey finds.

The increase in average basic compensation is significantly lower than the one that occurred among schools with head coaching changes following the 2011 season.

However, the recent round of moves included an unusually large number of schools hiring head coaches of other schools. That set of transactions will result in a major rise in another form of compensation. Nearly any head coach who breaks his contract to accept a job elsewhere in football is required to compensate the school he leaves. But the new employer generally agrees to pay that buyout, creating what is essentially a one-time bonus for the coach it has hired. In some cases, the amount of that bonus is increased by the new employer's willingness to also pay the taxes the coach would have owed on the one-time bonus.

When that money and one signing bonus is taken into account, new head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision schools will be paid an average of around 26% more than what their predecessors made in 2012. Last year, including buyouts paid on their behalf, new head coaches at FBS schools were paid about 45% more than what their predecessors made in 2011.

Counting average basic compensation only, new head coaches at FBS schools in 2012 were paid about 35% more than what their predecessors made in 2011.

So, even though some prominent programs will be paying their head coaches much less in 2013 they did in 2012 - Oregon, for example, will be paying Mark Helfrich $1.7 million less than it paid Chip Kelly - the average pay for all FBS football head coaches is likely to keep going up.

That figure rose by nearly 12% in 2012 - to $1.64 million - and has increased more than 70% since 2006, when USA TODAY Sports began tracking coaches' compensation. In addition to the rise in compensation for coaches who will be new in 2012, several incumbents have received contract extensions that include substantial pay increases for next season. Louisville's Charlie Strong will be getting $1.4 million more than he did last season, LSU's Les Miles $549,000. Other coaches will be getting increases for the 2013 season that were written into existing agreements,

Meanwhile, academic spending at many schools is either declining or not increasing at the same pace as athletics spending, according to a recent report by the Delta Cost Project at the non-profit American Institutes for Research that was based on data from the Education Department and data collected by USA TODAY Sports for its annual College Athletics Finances Database.

Among the 124 Bowl Subdivision schools, 29 (23.4%) have undergone coaching changes for the 2013 season - the second-most changes by number and by percentage since 1947, the first year for which the NCAA has such figures. Of the 29 changes, 11 involved one school hiring the head coach of another FBS school.

USA TODAY Sports has been able to document, or confirm with school officials, the terms of basic compensation, including the applicable buyout paid on the coach's behalf, for 23 of the 29 schools making changes.

Ten of the 23 will be paying their coaches the same or less next season than in this past season. A majority of those schools paid buyouts to their previous coaches or are offering greater incentives to their new coaches or both, but Arkansas State, Northern Illinois, Texas Tech and Wisconsin not only will be paying their new coaches the same or less, they also will have net positive revenue because of the buyout payments they are receiving on behalf of their previous coaches.

Arkansas is making a huge increase over the amount it paid in 2012 to John L. Smith, who received $850,000 under a 10-month contract after replacing Bobby Petrino, who made more than $3.6 million in 2011. Arkansas will be paying new coach Bret Bielema $3.2 million in basic compensation for the 2013 season.

If Arkansas is removed from consideration, the average basic pay for new coaches is about 1% less than what their predecessors made in 2012. However, Arkansas also agreed to pay Bielema's $1 million buyout to Wisconsin, as well as the taxes Bielema would have owed on that amount.